1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a temperature control system, a hydrocarbon synthesis reaction apparatus, a hydrocarbon synthesis reaction system, and a temperature control process.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-074247 filed on Mar. 30, 2011, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, as a process for synthesizing liquid fuels from natural gas, the GTL (Gas To Liquids: liquid fuels synthesis) technique has been developed. This GTL technique includes the steps of reforming a natural gas to produce a synthesis gas containing carbon monoxide gas (CO) and hydrogen gas (H2) as main components, synthesizing hydrocarbons using this synthesis gas as a feedstock gas and using a catalyst via the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction (hereinafter also referred to as the “FT synthesis reaction”), and then hydrogenating and fractionating these hydrocarbons to produce liquid fuel products such as naphtha (raw gasoline), kerosene, gas oil and wax and the like.
As a hydrocarbon synthesis reaction apparatus used in the GTL technique, for example, a constitution shown in the Patent Document 1 given below is known. In this type of hydrocarbon synthesis reaction apparatus, in general, hydrocarbons are synthesized by subjecting carbon monoxide gas and hydrogen gas within a synthesis gas inside a reactor to the FT synthesis reaction. Inside the reactor, there is accommodated a slurry prepared by suspending solid catalyst particles (such as a cobalt catalyst or the like) in a liquid medium (for example, liquid hydrocarbons or the like).
In this hydrocarbon synthesis reaction apparatus, the synthesis gas is charged from a bottom of the reactor, thereafter, rising inside the reactor, while in contact with the slurry inside the reactor to synthesize hydrocarbon compounds. Since the synthesis gas is supplied from the bottom side of the reactor in this manner, the carbon monoxide gas and the hydrogen gas will easily undergo the FT synthesis reaction at the bottom of the reactor.